The Homewood athletics department introduced their comprehensive app this summer along with new assistant athletic director Jonathon Lunceford.
Jonathon, better known as Jon, is a familiar face in Homewood. Lunceford graduated from Homewood High School, where he was part of the football team, contributing to winning the 5A state championships in 2002 and 2004.
He also participated in show choir. Jon Lunceford’s father, Tim, played an active part in the show choir stage crew. The Luncefords helped build backdrops and sets together for years after their son’s graduation.
Lunceford chose to further his football career at Birmingham Southern College. He then decided to transfer to the University of Alabama to pursue his bachelor’s degree in communications.
His qualifications in the communications field led to a number of opportunities in the media industry. From his time hosting on-air for ESPN’s 97.3 The Zone to successive roles producing for iHeartMedia and AL.com, Lunceford’s resume speaks for itself.
After spending the last couple of years as the assistant athletic director for Thompson, he returned to Homewood.
Lunceford’s primary role is focused on sports media. In his words, that responsibility includes “anything that could be seen or heard.”
Specifically, he has played a huge role in the making of the new athletics app, Homewood Athletics. The app’s purpose is to be a one stop shop for all sports information, making it easier for student athletes and parents to stay up to date. Formerly, athletes and parents would have had to go to different websites for everything, but now they are all in the same place in the same app.
“Coach Baguley had the idea,” Lunceford said, “We need to build an app and basically have easy access on our phones. To have one place to go for everything, buy tickets, one place to go watch a broadcast, one app to go to.”
The live NFHS broadcasts are also available on the app, with the goal of being an easy, convenient way to keep track of the games. Previously, games were only available on Youtube, but now all sports content is easily accessible through the app.
“The broadcast is easily accessible for people as well, to watch and listen to the game,” Lunceford said. “Whether they’re there, or if they’re home, they can listen to it in the car.”
Creating the app involved a long process for Homewood that took up most of the summer, as compiling the information needed from every sports team was no small task. The process was started in May, before Lunceford arrived, but July is when they really ramped up production. It helped that they had a clear-cut deadline: the first day of school.
“We had to go through the process of gathering photos, logos, information, getting schedules, rosters,” Lunceford said. “Anything a coach can think of for every single sport.”
The app has been well received so far, with over 700 people downloading the app during the first week of school, according to Lunceford. Even midway through the fall semester, there appear to be minimal setbacks with the information.
A parent of a student athlete said, “It’s a little slow sometimes when you go to see the scores…but I really like it.”
Besides small details like these that will improve with time, the app is considered a successful move for the athletic department so far.
